Dong Zhong-shu’s Interpretation on the Calamity in The Chunqiu Annals

The ideas of the calamity is an important part of Dong Zhong-shu’s philosophical thoughts on heaven.Dong Zhong-shu examines a lot on the concept of the interaction between human behavior and calamity of the universe when he interpretates The Chunqiu Annals.The calamity was given out by Heaven.It shows the will of Heaven.If a monarch’s action goes against righteous law,the heaven will condemn,and warn against the monarch by the catastrophe.When the monarch finds it,he will be stirred in his inner heart,and cultivate and examine himself,and then realise and correct his once wrong doings by kindness.Then,the catastrophe will disappear naturally.Otherwise,the calamity is coming.This ideas represents the moral reaon of the heaven,affirms the subjectivity of the monarch and enforces his unavoidable sense of duty.Thus,his idea of calamity in his Calamity Annals with the concept Yin-yang has some moral values,though it is not scientific.